Belgian arms company supplies munitions to Russia: media report
11 July 2023
Belgian armament company New Lachaussee based in Liège is suspected of delivering ammunition to Russia, an audit conducted by KPMG revealed. The government of Wallonia in southern Belgium owns 20% of the shares in the company. The information was released by the French-language Belgian public broadcaster RTBF.
TVP World New Lachaussee is known for its equipment for ammunition manufacturing. Its most effective production lines can produce between three and five million pieces of ammunition annually.
RTBF gained access to a report prepared by KPMG following its audit of the Walloon arms producer.
“In spite of the 2014 embargo introduced against the sale of arms to Russia, the company did not break off its contacts with Russian companies,” RTBF reported. The ammunition was sold to Russia using Serbia-based intermediaries.
As the news outlet stressed, the company kept the report strictly confidential, even from its most important shareholder, the Walloon government.
Elio Di Rupo, the Minister-President of Wallonia, released a statement according to which he had ordered an investigation to be conducted and preventively suspended the company’s export license, citing possible violation of the embargo and of European sanctions.